A wide variety of leavenable dough products allow a user to “home bake” a dough to produce a desirable hot, fresh-baked item. Many such items are proofed prior to baking, and for consumer convenience may be partially or fully proofed prior to purchase and prior to use by the consumer. Such products, sold after proofing or partial proofing, are examples of products referred to as “pre-proofed.” Examples of pre-proofed dough products include breads and bread-like products that generally contain a leavening ingredient and include but are not limited to loaves of bread such as French bread, white or whole wheat bread, bread sticks, biscuits, rolls, pizza dough, and the like.
One technique for preparing a pre-proofed dough product is by use of a package having a fixed volume and allowing a contained dough composition to proof and expand inside of the packaging, e.g., self-sealing packages such as canisters. Such products include dough formulations that can be, but are not necessarily, chemically-leavenable. For example, one way to accommodate proofing of a dough composition during refrigerated storage is to store a refrigerated dough composition in a canister of a fixed volume so the refrigerated dough product proofs or partially proofs inside of the canister. With expansion of the dough composition, the dough volume increases to fill the entire package volume, and upon further expansion will increase the pressure inside the canister. The canister is usually formed from composite paperboard spirally wound into a cylinder. The initial volume of dough packed into the canister is usually less than the canister volume and as the dough continues to proof, the pressure increases to force the dough against canister end caps to seal gas passages around the end caps of the canister.
Another form of packaging for food products, including those that may be refrigerated or frozen, is flexible packaging such as packages known in the food industry as “chubs,” or packages known as “pouches.” A pouch is generally a non-pressurized flexible package prepared from a sealed flexible film. A chub may usually include a cylindrical or tubular package of thin flexible material formed to contain a quantity of food item. Tubular package ends may be closed by any appropriate mechanical fastener such as crimped clips. International Publication Number WO 02/28746, for example, describes dough products packaged in chubs. Packaging of proofed refrigerated dough in flexible film containers, as well as other types of containers, often includes the use of a valve to vent carbon dioxide gas from the package headspace. These valves are prone to fouling and can be expensive. See also U.S. Pat. No. 6,602,529, “High Raw Specific Volume Dough in a Chub,” filed Oct. 2, 2000.
There is continuing need for new types of packaged pre-proofed dough products that may be refrigerator stable or freezer stable. Similarly, there is continuing need for new methods of packaging and preparing such packaged dough products. Particularly useful and economical packages are those that are simple and durable, such as flexible film packaging with no pressure release valve.